I've never done a grow journal before. I think it will be great to get near-realtime input on how my grow is going. I am, by no means, an expert so I shall be relying heavily upon your experience and wisdom.

OK...here we go with some details.

Vivosun 20"x36"x72" tent
400W MH & HPS Light
10 micron intake filter (Fan driven at 110 CFM)
90 CFM 4" exhaust fan
2 Recirculating DWC 5gal buckets.
nutrients are overfed from a 4 gal reservoir using a 160L/hr submersible pump with a 6-port outlet manifold.
Air pump is 15L/min 4-port.
2 x 6" fans inside the tent.
Buckets are cooled via outside air. Here in Canada, it is getting cold enough to use outdoor air for cooling. I use two 4" vent hoses (intake/exhaust) driven by an axial fan on a rainbird temp controller. The hoses supply cool outside air into the box I placed the grow tent on. The box has two large holes on top to allow the buckets to drop down into the box and rest on their rims. The hoses, drains etc. are all located inside the box so nothing is visible. Since the majority of the bucket is contained within a box, the cool air from outside keeps the roots cool. When the water is 66 degrees, the rainbird controller shuts off the axial fan. If it climbs to 69 degrees, the fan turns on to supply cool outdoor air to the buckets.

I will be insulating the hoses this week. If I don't, humidity/condensation will be an issue.

Germination date: 7 Nov 2018
I germinated two seeds via the paper towel method. The seeds cracked within 24 hours of being immersed in water. I transferred them to paper towel. 12 hours later I checked on them and the paper towel had dried. The taproot had grown 1/2" in the previous 12 hours so I figured it couldn't have been dry for long. I thought the root may still be damp enough to be viable. I soaked the paper towel again and watched carefully. A day later, both taproots had grown to about 3/4". They seem to have suffered a bit. They definitely nearly died. Hopefully they will recover from the shock quickly and catch up.

Planting date: 9 Nov 2018.
I planted each germed seed, with the taproot down, in small pieces of Hydroton. I have 10" netpots filled with hydroton. I simply sifted the hydroton to get the small bits. I make a small depression in the hydroton and then fill the depression with small hydroton bits. That provides a fine enough medium for the roots to grow. An easier alternative is a small amount of perlite. I didn't have any.

10 Nov 2018: Plant 1 - seed popped above the surface of the hydroton.

11 Nov 2018: Plant 2 - seed popped above the surface of the hydroton. Seed #1 still has the shell attached. Later in the day, I noticed that the shell was stuck on plant #2. I used a pair of tweezers to pull the seed shell off #2. The cotyledons 'sprung' out.

12 Nov 2018: Plant #1 still had the shell stuck on. I used tweezers to remove it. The cotyledons opened up right away and two small leaves were already visible. Plant #2 also has two small leaves.

I honestly thought I had killed these little seedlings when the paper towel dried out. They are struggling but I think we are over the hump for now.

#2 has not grown at all. She looks green and healthy. She's just not getting any bigger.

So, a few days ago I removed some of the hydroton to look at the taproot. It was short and curled. It had 3 tiny root hairs coming off it. Today I looked and it was nearly the same. Nearly no growth. So, I replanted it in perlite. I'm hoping that the roots will develop better if they are in contact with more of the growing medium.

I did notice that near the tip of the taproot was what looked like a 'bruise'. It was a band of light brown discolouration that went around the taproot about 1/8" from the tip (due to lighting, it doesn't seem to show in the picture). I just wonder if that band was caused by mishandling/drying out and now the root tip is unable to grow.

Any thoughts? Besides, "Throw them away and start again..."

You can see in the pictures what the roots look like. Yes, I know...I should never have exposed the roots to light. It was literally one picture then replant in perlite. 30 seconds tops.

#1 - Starting to see some new growth now. Nutes are at 300ppm (EC - 0.6). That includes cal-mag and a root conditioner.

#2 - It looks like she will make it. Starting to see new growth every day now. She has a few very small sets of leaves growing in, just in the last 14 hours.

I am constantly chasing the pH. I adjust it down to 5.5 but it is 5.9-6.1 only 12 hours later. I turned down my air pump. The roots haven't grown down into the water yet anyway. I should turn it off for 24 hours to see what happens to pH.

I have decided that topping or FIM'ing would be a bad idea. These are autoflowering so they likely won't recover and grow vegetatively any more before going into flower.

In fact, they were supposed to go into flower 14 days after germinating. They are at 29 days already.

Honestly, at this point, if I get only 1-2 ozs per plant, I will be very happy.

Mind you, I am getting my grow tent/box dialed in nicely.

I'm still waiting (nearly 2 months now) for some fittings to be delivered from Amazon. I ordered a bunch of plastic 'Tee' fittings for the 1/4" OD irrigation hose. I want to make a circular top-feed manifold with 5 Tee pieces (1 in x 4 out). Right now I have a single hose top-feeding the plants from one side only. I would prefer to provide 4 irrigation points spread out over a 6-8" diameter area around the stem. It would definitely help the roots develop better.